Monday, June 30, 2008

@ ganga nature camp

Rishikesh. The much awaited trip finally re-happened.

Between jobs, me and 4 other friends finally packed off for rishikesh. This trip, unlike many others was not improptu. Infact Disha and I did a lot of searches and finally selected ganga nature camp over aquaterra for obvious reasons. (and to my shame, I also prepared a format for comparison between the shortlisted choices). Aweful. But thankfully, I was true to my basic procrastinatory self, so nothing really came out of the excel sheets.
Let me redo the trip through a fototrip...
@ Suncity Bus Service from CP (N. Delhi) to Rishikesh. 9350918952.
(Beware of the bus owner. He can be very illogical).
With Lipika, the cute algae




@ Laxman jhula, 6:30 or so after chai n a cold ride in the dark to this bridge (where a homey pigeon walked the entire stretch of the bridge infront of us. Gues, pigs fly, so pigeons walk).










@ Ganga Nature Camp, Between Rishikesh & Shivpuri. 09412050478. (Rajeev).
No, swimming is not allowed. Not seedha. Nor Ulta.
The camp is very basic (read sand pit toilets). The food served is good, esp. the roasted mixed veg.
.......afternoon fillers... a baby trek to some waterfall, a dip in absoLUTEly chilled pool by the same waterfall, rappeling by the roadside 'tall-rock' (what else could it be called?)
Dumb Charade sessions, if you can come up with innovative n original names like...(i) lomdi ko ho gaya pyaar (ii) tahkhaane mei chudail
Recommended:
Include in your team someone like Lipika who can come up with the wierdest of ching chong names.
Our Lipika obviously took ages to decide.
She would look up to the movie-Gods for inspiration.. again take ages to decide.
Finally when she would manage to whisper to Disha, both would again take ages to laugh about it. Reconfirm yet again and laugh some more.
Her love for ching chong movies is so gr8 that Disha had to enact Once upon a time in 'China'. (Oh! to have heard Antonio Banderas speak with a chinese hangover). One also has to enact part I - IV as well to the names Lipika comes up with.




We did a lot of posing as well.

















All of Us
Junta was on the move, while we waited our turn
Quite a traffic that weekend
Some would shout
Hey babby wo babby
Hey babby WO


So after some dunkings
and some more
We too hailed Jai Bharat and the ride started
Day 1 was just about 12-13 kms
Day 2 was about 27 kms.
Day 2 had some great rides with gr8 names (now i just remember 3 blind mice).
Remo, the funny instructor would come up with funnier annotations for the rapid-namesakes.
He was equally inovative in funny games like making us balance at the head of the raft.
Left-Forward...Right-Back...Left-Forward...Right-Back, he would shout the command. And Dunk would go our balancing act. If only we could capture the concentrated expressions with which we had been trying to balance. The best one being just before either jumping onto the raft or falling into the river.
...Disha and me

.......Mohit and Lipika
But The BEST among Remo's antics was
DISHA in her HOT SEAT.

Here goes...
Remo the funny man takes us to this rock by the bank. Makes Disha climb up and sit on the seat like formation cut out at the face of the rock. Mohit helps her and he jumps back immediately, and all of us back-paddled...instantly at Remo the funny man's command of BAAACK PAAADDLE.
Here she is...
Disha was astounded. Then she laughed. Then was irritated.
We ofcors, could not stop laughing.
Then she screamed.....Ok guys .... enough!!!! come back....

GUYYYSSSS!!!

mat aaaooo...mero ko kya hai....

GUYYYSSSSS!!!!

Well we did take our time to return.


We also sang saathi haath badhaana... while we helped her down
Some more foto sessions....
Kriti, the babe
Lipika, the joker




































Some Cliff Jumps
Thats Mohit

Thats Me
My 1st jump was at a slant and how I ached :)

But the 2nd was perfect. I loved it.
(It was much higher than as seen in this foto ofcors. This clarification is since Mohit and I bragged so much about the thrill of the jump).


Back in camp. Our home for two nights n three days...
Lovely dark night. The sound of rushing Ganga and chilly air, a heady combination























Back into our 10/- raincoats bought at Ram jhula

and back to Delhi.
and back to Mumbai.
and back to Work.

9 comments:

Gauri said...

Awesooommmee stuffs !! You seem to have had a blast. I am so jealous:)

Unknown said...

reenu.. enjoyed the trip all over again when i read it...it truly was awesome.. wasnt it??? thanks for putting it all up and for the entertaining comments and u were right.. dish is going to kill u... but dead or alive.. we do love u loads:)

Anonymous said...

wow!!!!
makes me so jealous.

have fun!!!!

Anonymous said...

now i kno..why u were waiting for my comment..aaaaaaaaaah all the 'hot seat' pix...
nevertheless very well put together...have finally figured out ur urgent call's motivating thoughts.:)
by putting this together u made me relive the trip all over again...one of the nicest pre-eve-birthday present i could get.thanx:)
now im all geared n pepped for the next one to GOA...until then lipika can watch more Ching Chong movies to her collection:)muwaah

Anonymous said...

quit your job and take up a job with Nat Geo or Disc.. comon, be brave, be a woman! :)

darksunshine said...

lash? if i am not brave, will i not be a woman?
:)

Anonymous said...

truly vivid....could visualise it all so well...especially lipika's ching chong guesses and disha hassled to have been left alone....she could do nothing...her name is such a misnomer!!!!!!!darksunshine....u rock...

Anonymous said...
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Anonymous said...

So this was the great trip you talked about in delhi!!..yes this is truly fantastic stuff..and must say..you have sharpened your ability to chronicle..and even at the risk of being hit by a tete-curse, i should say that the helmet is a perfect fit on you..i really want to go for this the next available opportunity..i think i have been avoiding so far because deep down inside i cant claim to be at home in deep waters..but WHAT THE HECK..I WANT TO GO THERE TOO!